Pools Over Mackerel
by AnimeGal93
Summary: Haruka Nanase goes to a new school on a scholarship, but the high class academy isn't how he pictured it to be. Will he find acceptance in the strangest of places? MakoHaruSou
1. Chapter 1

The sun was shining brightly the day Haruka Nanase visited Samezuka Academy to deliver some mackeral to a student. His parents owned a macheral deliveraly store and he made deliveres for them.

"Wow this school is really nice," Haru thought to himself. "They even have a pool. I wish Iwatobi had a pool." Iwatobi did have a pool, but it was very small. Like a kiddie pool. Anyway, Haru showed his delivery badge to the security gaurd and entered. "Sounds like there's a ruccus going on on the rooftop. Maybe my client is there." Haru thought to himself. So he up the stairs. The halls were so emptpy. He went to the roof.

On the roof, there were a lot of students crowded around on the roof. Haru looked around, and there was a kid standing on the edge of the roof! Haru went over to him.

"Excuse me, are you my client?" The boy looked at him. "I have an order of fried mackerel."

"I don't want it anymore! I'm going to commit suicide," the boy said. Haru sighed.

"What am I supoosed to do with this, eat it?" Haru said, "Just pay for it first."

"No! I have nothing left to live for! Everyone hates me. Especially the swim club," he said, stepping off the roof. Haru dived forward and caught him by the arm just in time.

"That's not true! There's always mackeral," Haru whispered as he hung off the edge of the building. "50% off from three to five pm, on Wednesdays..."

"You're right," the boy looked up at Haru, tears in his eyes. "What was I thinking?"

Since that day, Haru's life changed forever. A magazine postd a pictre of him saving the boy, and suddenly everyone was mad at the school because the swim club was bullying everyone. The school chairman thought really hard about it, and decided to give Haruka a scholarship to the school. This was his way of rectifying the situation. Surely everyone would calm down if the face of their anti-bullying campaigns were to join the school and the swim club...

When they recieved the invite in the mail, Haru's family was exstatic.

"I can't believe my eyes." His mother said.

"Exactly," his father replied.

"I don't want to," Haru said. "I like my school, Iwatobi High School."

"But Haru!" his little brother said. "They have an Olympic sized pool!"

So it was decided that Haru would attend Samezuka academy on a scholariship.

He walked into the school and couldn't even believe that it was so big. And there were students everywhere. He went to his first class, and it was all right. But kind of boring.

Later he was walking in the woods when he saw blakc haired boy playing the cello. IT was the most beautiful thing he ever heard. He stared at haru, "Sorry," haru said, before leaving.

Later in the hall, all the girls starting screaming. Haru didn't know why, but he looked. Entering the main hall, was a gaggle of boys clad in swimsuits. Haru realized they must be the swim club.

Leading them all was the captain, Makoto Tachibana. He had broad shoulder that glistened in the flourescent light, emerald green eyes, and brown hair. Haru noted that his rippling muscles were best suited to the backstroked.

Then the black haired boy followed him. He was huge. His name was Sousuke Yamazaki, and even though we has dressed to swim, he still carried his cello. His huge biceps were best suited for the butterfly. Same with the guy in glasses, Rei Ryugazaki.

There were two smaller boys. One with cherub like golden curls and strawberry colored eyes. This was Nagisa Hazuki. He's like an angel. His did breastroke, and so did Nitori.

Finally, a man with gorgeous abs and a red swimsuit, with red hair, and red eyes, entered the scene. Rin Matsuoka, who swam freestyle. _Like me._

Makoto walked by this guy who had the same hairstyle,before looking at him and shaving his. Haru couldn't believe his eyes! No one did anything to stop him! What a jerk.

"lol nice hairdue." Rin grinned. Sousuke just walked way. Nagias just burst out laughing and Rei shook his head. Nitori agrred. Momo flirted with gou. Kisimi played basketball. His little brothr was afraud to swim. mikoshiba flirted with gou. mom and mikoshiba flirted with gou. "stop flirting with my swister!" Rin shouted anger. They all walked away. Haru was flagbergaster. He couldn't believe what he hjust saw. he wouldn't be dettered though. He would still jjoin the swim club/ Nothing would keep him away from that pool...

He watched as they walked away. His eyebrows lowered. "He do they think _they_ are?" he muttered under his breath. Unfortunately it did not go unnoticed as a handsome but eccentric blonde stranger approached him. Haru was shock at his wavy fair locks and deep, sympathetic sparkling dark eyes.

"You should watch how loud you speak" he said scaredly. "If anyone hears you, the swim club will destory you!"

"Who are you?" Haru demanded of the mysterious, albeit attractive, student.

"Goro Sasabe, former member of the swim club, before I was _exiled_ by the current captain, Makoto Tachibana," he said in handsome anger. He ran a perfect hand through his shining golden locks. "That's why I'm warning you," he said solemnly. "I know just what they're capable of. You're no match for them."

"Whatever," Haru said, before turning and stalking off.

Goro was bemused but intrigued by this newcomer. After a moment of deliberation he raised a perfectly proportioned hand and chased after him, shouting in a deep masculine voice: "Wait for me!"

The swi cclub was Only the swim club was only there. Which suited Haru just fine. As he was joining this club. Goro however, seemed nervous to enter. But enter he did, as Haru was paying absolutely no heed to him and striding right over to the captain.

"Oh, no," whispered Goro with full pouty lips.

It didn't take Makoto long to notice Haru's presence. It took him even less time to notice Goro and even less time than that to sneer at him. Still, Goro would not be intimidated and followed behind Haru to them.

But then he tripped! And spilled his ice cream all over Makoto!

"Oh, no," whispered Sousuke. To himself but no one heard. He started playing a sad song on his cello.

"You shouldn't have done that," Nagisa bleated. Surprisingly the only calm person in the room seemed to be (besides Haru) Makoto himself. He grinned maliciously.

"Hey, you reject," he said in a deep baritone voice highly reminscent of a person with a deep baritone voice. "Do you even have the slightest clue... about how much this swimsuit cost?"

"I'm sorry, Tachibana-sama," Goro bleated, crying beautifully. "I'll replace it. I'll clean it, or whatever you want!"

"This isn't the first time you've insulted me, Sasabe," he condemned a dark shadow falling across his face. "Since kicking you out of the swim club hasn't seemed to be punishment enough, should I have you expelled this time?" The corners of his lips twitched up in a mocking smile. Goro's perfect lips fell open, but whatever he'd wanted to say died in his throat, fear choking him like a vice.

Haru had seen enough. Shouldering his way in between them, he directed a hard stare at the taller swim captain. "That's enough," he said, voice quiet but still firm.

Suddenly, the music stopped. All eyes were on Haru and Makoto.

The latter's eyelids lowered as he regarded Haru. "Ah, what's this?"

Rin stepped a bit closer and spoke up. "Oi, mate, ain't he that scholarship student?" Haru didn't acknowledge him, but rather kept his eyes on Makoto, whose expression quickly reflected amusement. He didn't answer Rin either, but addressed Haru directly.

"Is this the commoners' way? Sticking up for your _friends_?" He taunted. Nirotri agreed. Rei shook his head.

"Do you think he fell because he wanted to?" Haru replied cooly, unfazed by Makoto's stature and condescending tone. "He apologized. Isn't that enough for you?"

"Let's race," Makto said. Haru won easily. And left with Goro. "Who is that piece of SHIT," Makoto screamed!

"I already told you, he's the one who won the scholarship!"

"Thanks for saving me," Goro thanked Haru handsomely. Haru was thinking about the pool. It was so large. The perfect size for him, really. He couldn't get it out of his mind; in fact, he couldn't recall ever having felt this way before. _I need to apply to join the swim club right away_, he thought.

"Hm?" He replied to Goro. "Ah. Yeah," he said, his mind elsewhere as he grabbed a form from the office. He filled it out and turned it in.

Later at Haru's house his dad was washing his uniform. "Wow this is really nice," him sad said. "I like your uniform, Haru."

"Whatever," Haru replied.

-The next day-

He opened his locker, while Goro danced in the background with perfect form and grace, and was surprised to see something strange in there. It was a bird! Haru liked it and decided it was a keycain and waear it. Goro stoppeddancing and gasped.

"So loud." Haru said. "Did you swallow a train?"

"You got the forbidden Iwatobi-chan!" He said scaredly. "You're gonna be the target of the whole school now!"

"I'm really not interested," said Haru, but it was what he saw next that truly angered him. A refusal letter from the swim club! He clenched the paper between his fists.

Later he went to the roof. And yelled a lot.

"Tachibana more like tachiBAKA!" hE YELLED. "Someone as disgusting as you is in charge of the swim club! You're the worst of them all! I will make it my mission to destroy you!"

Suddenly Sousuke came around the corner with his cello. "You're even ruder." He whispered in Haru's ear. "If you're gonna hate someone, you should learn their name or something."

"Are you... threatening me, Yamazaki?"

Sousuke glared at Haru. "Don't ever get in Rin's way again..." He said, slamming the vending machine with his cello and stalking off.

_What a weirdo_, Haru thought. But he wasn't letit get him down. He was so happy to be in this school, with this pool, eve if he couldn't join the swim club. Did they think that would stop him?

Haru went to class. But his desk was gone. "Where's my desk?" he asked as the students sniggered at him.

2

"Guess ya gotta sit on the floor like the trash you are," Amakata-sensei said. Haru decided he'd rather be swimming and flunked his midterms to go to the pool isntead. Afterward he was walking in the hall when suddenly something hit the back of his head. It was an egg!

For a moment, he was stunned. It took him a minute to even compute that things this ridiculous actually happened in real life. Sadly, as he stood there contemplating, more eggs were flying at him. His uniform was ruined! Suddenly he had a flashback.

_"Wow this is really nice," him sad said. "I like your uniform, Haru."_

But what came out of his mouth was the opposite of what he felt. "more!" He screamed. "Give me more!" and so they dumped flour on him. Now he was like a precooked doughnut. Donuts tasted good, so it wasn't all bad. He saw Goro in the crowd, but his only friend fled from him, beautiful long legs taking him far away...

Later he was on the rooftop. And Sousuke appeared with his cello. "Stop yelling," he said, for Haru had been screaming again out of furstration. He had wanted to wash off in the pool, but Makoto had locked the door.

Sousuke threw a towel on Haru. "Clean yourself with this," he said brusquely before playing a tune of his cello. "I still haven't acknowledged you." He said, before stalkin off.

Haru decided then that he would fight back against the tyrannical swim club and their awful leader Makoto Tachibana. They din't deserve to swim in that pool, and so he would stop at nothing to take them down.

tbc?


	2. Chapter 2

As it turns out, the Egg Incident was only the beginning of Haru's troubles with the swim club. The next day, he'd opened his locker in the gym only to find out that his favorite swimsuit had been cut to ribbons. As if that weren't bad enough, those scoundrels had ordered mackeral from his family store only to stomp on it right inf ront of him when he delivered it! Plus there were people chasing him and trying to beat him up all the time.

The last straw for Haruka Nanase, though, was the day he'd gone to take a dip in the pool in the swim club's down time, only to find it filled with trash! The absolute nerve of these bourgeoise louts! For an hour and a half, he swam around in the disgusting garbage filled pool trying to clean it all by himself.

This couldn't go on. He had to put a stop to the swim club, and more importantly Makoto Tachibana. Even if he had no friends, or anyone else on his side, as long as he had the pool Haru knew he'd be okay. But Makoto was doing everything in his power to take the pool away from him. So after he received a note from Goro that apologized for his cowardly actions the previous day, the two of them got together to form a plan.

"Let's give those swim club jerks a taste of their own medicine," Goro said, voice at the absolute perfect volume and tone. "What do you think we should do?"

"I don't really feel like doing anything," Haru said, sipping on his mackeral milkshake. "They'll get bored eventually if I don't react."

"Weren't you mad about the pool or something?" Goro asked, confusion reflected in his deep, crimson orbs.

"Oh yeah. Let's get 'em," Haru said, renewed determination shining brightly in his expression.

"Lucky for _you_, I have a plan," Goro said, flipping his hair back magnificently. "Just do whatever I say, and soon those swimming d-bags will be running home crying to their mommies!"

"Whatever," said Haru.

And so the war between Haru and the swim club began.

So he comes during their swim meeting and he goes up to Makoto. "I declare war on you Makoto tachibana," he says before slapping an Iwatobi-chan on his face. Then he does the same to the others. Behind him, Goro turned up his perfectly straight nose. "Be prepared for my assault."

"Ah, what's this," he says, and by he I mean Makoto. He peels the Iwatobi chan strap off his forehead.

"That's our Iwatobi-chan!" Nagisa said, pointing at Makoto's bird but not removing his own.

"God damn it, Nagisa, I know that!" Makoto sweared. Rei shook his head. Nitori agreed. From somewhere in the distance, the sound of a battle anthem being played on a cello could be heard.

"My good fellows, shall we not fight amongst each other?" Rin yells. "Mr. Nanase has already vacated the premises."

"Feh," Makoto breathed out. "What can trash like him do to _us_ anyway?" He dived into the pool. And swam into the distanc,e.

After the meet ended, the swim club decided to go change. So they showered and went into the locker room, talking about things like how fast they swim and how much money they have, but then when they opened their lockers, they realized the awful truth.

"My word," Rin whispers. Sousuke slammed his cello against the locker in rage, and it splintered into many pieces.

"Damn it, now I have to buy a new one!" He bellowed in rage.

"Crikey, Sousuke, that's the fifth one this week!" Rin cried. Rei shook his head.

"Don't we have something more important to worry about?"

"You're right," Makoto said. "Where are our clothes!? They were expensive!"

But their clothes and swimsuits were nowhere to be found. They inferred that Haruka and Rei took them. They got the towels, too.

"Wh-what're we gonna do? I'm not ready for anyone to see me naked," Makoto sobbed.

"Too bad," Sousuke said. Nitori agreed.

Fangirls cheered and fainted as the swim club make their naked getaway out of the school.

Somewhere else, Goro was laughing while Haru sat there. A pile of clothes were sitting next to them. Phase 1 was complete.

The swim club was arriving at school, their usual crowd of fangirls chasing them and cheering. But then suddenly eggs rained down from above. They were all coated in eggs, and soon after, flour. And melted chocolate and sprinkles. They stood there in shock and dismay.

Makoto was steamed. He was a steamed donut. Enraged, he looked up to the staircase above him and saw Haruka Nanase looking down at him, wearing an expression that could almost be called bewilderment. Makoto, however, knew that this was no accident.

"Ah, sorry," Haru said, voice cool and not apologetic at all. "I didn't know you were down there."

The captain's eyebrow twitched. Adding insult to chocolate-y injury, he could just make out the sound of Goro's angelic laughter from behind Haru.

Phase 2: Complete.

Momo and Mikoshiba were getting coffee for the swim club. They ordered the drinks at the cafe, when suddenly Gou walked up and started flirting with them.

"Uwaa~ You have such amazing muscles," Gou said, plastic smile in place as Momo blushed and Mikoshiba flexed.

Meanwhile, while the brothers were turned away from the counter, Haru and Goro crawled behind the bar. Their good friend Kisumi the barista pointed at their drinks and grinned. He was very handsome, but no match for Goro.

Haru and Goro put stuff in the drinks and they all snickered. Then they left and Kisumi put the lids back on. "Here you go," he said. "My regards to the swim club."

After that day, Kisumi was never seen again...

Momo and Mikoshiba grabbed the cups, saying "thanks" and walking away.

"Here master" Mom said, giving the coffee. Mikoshiba did too. They all drank the coffee and 30 minutes later they were all running to the bathroom.

Elsewhere...

"Okay, that's all you needed, right? Where's my payment?" Gou demanded, arms crossed as she addressed Haruka. Haru nodded, stepping forward and retrieving a slip of paper from his pocket. He placed it in her hand and smiled warmly.

"Thanks for your help. You can have as many of these as you want," he said, bowing and leaving with Goro. Gou simply stood there in silence.

Grasped between her fingers was a 50% off coupon for Nanase's Mackerel World.

Phase 3: Complete.

By the end of the week, the swim club was constantly on edge. After numerous assaults from Haruka and Goro, along with not knowing when or where they would strike next, their nerves were shot.

They were sitting around at the pool one day, when suddenly Makoto sat up straighter. "I got it!" He exclaimed, eyes shining with mirth.

"What have you come to understand, my friend?" Rin asked.

"That guy, I think I finally know why he's been so focused on me..." he murmured, placing a hand to his chin in thought. "It was so obvious, I can't believe I didn't come up with it sooner."

"Could it be because... he doesn't like you?" Nagisa bleated.

"No, that's not it," Makoto waved a dismissive hand. "He's jealous of me. He admires everything about me, from my looks to my wealth, but can't find a way to express it properly."

Rin witheld a smirk. "Oh, is that the reason?"

"I think I'll let him join the swim club after all," he said, stretching his back. "If he wants to experience a rich man's life that badly, I see no reason we should deny him that."

Nitori agreed.

Haru was leaving the school when he saw Makoto leaning in what was probably meant to be a casual way against the school gate. Haru tried to avoid eye contact, but it was too late. The captain strode over to him, lip quirked up in a confident smile.

"What do you want? I have deliveries to make today," Haru said, not bothering to stop and walking right by Makoto.

"Cancel them. I've decided to let you join the swim team."

Haru's feet stopped instantaneously. His first thought was that this was a trick, just another prank by the swim club. _But if it's not..._ If it wasn't a prank, it meant that he could swim in that pool whenever his heart so desired. Jaw tightening, he turned around to face the other boy. "What are you talking about?"

Makoto looked pleased by his response, for whatever reason. "That's what you wanted, right? How do you feel? Happy?"

"I guess," he replied simply, reversing course and striding back into the school. Makoto seemed bewildered.

"Where are you going now?" He said, frustration evident in his voice as he followed after Haru.

"I'm going to swim." He said, shedding his clothes as he went.

"Not in that swimsuit. If you're going to be a member of my swim club, you have to wear the proper attire." Makato said stopping Haru from entering the room.

"What's wrong with my swimsuit?" Haru frowned.

"What isn't wrong with it? If it's not over $200, how do you expect me to believe the quality is up to snuff?"

"That's not your problem. What I swim in doesn't matter."

"It does to me." Makoto replied, snapping his fingers. Several men in uniforms filled in and grabbed Haru. They took him to a limousine and shoved him inside. After a few minutes, the limousine stopped in front of a giant mansion.

Haru was ushered out of the limo and into Makoto's home, bemused and a bit dazed as he was led through the opulent halls and graceful rooms. When they finally came to a stop, it was in what was clearly meant to be a changing room. Nothing else. Just a room to change in. Inside, sitting on a marble table, were several pairs of swimsuits of various length and type.

"Go on," he heard Makoto's voice behind him. "I prepared them all for you."

Haru cast a short, suspicious glance back at Makoto. He was sure it had to be some kind of trick, but no matter how hard he thought he couldn't come up with a single thing that the other could gain from this. Hesitantly, he strode to the center of the room where the magnificent garments awaited him. Running his fingers over the fabric, he could feel these were truly of the highest quality. Turning back to Makoto again, Haru felt confusion bubbling up. Why would someone offer him something so nice? And why, of all people, was it _Makoto_?

"You like them, right?" The taller boy grinned. "Go ahead and pick whichever one you want," he said before leaving the room and closing the door behind him. Haru turned back to the swimsuits.

Oh, he had all the intentions of claiming the one with the best fit for himself, but first he had to test them out. First, he grabbed a pair of jammers similar to the ones he normally wore. He peeled his swimsuit off and put the nicer one on. And frowned. It didn't fit as well as the ones he already had...

Oh, well. There were still plenty to choose from.

But he found all the swimsuits didn't fit the way he liked. With a slightly disappointed sigh, he put his reliable old pair of jammers back on and left the room. Makoto was standing right outside the door, and when he saw Haru wearing his cheap swimsuit, he frowned.

"Which one did you pick?" He asked, eyebrows knit together.

"None of them. I didn't like them," Haru said point blank. It looked like it took Makoto a lot of effort to keep his cool.

"Didn't like-Hey, commoner," he said, expression darkening. "Do you have any idea how much even one of those is worth?"

"No, but I'm not interested," was Haru's cool reply. "The number on the price tag is just a number if it doesn't fit right."

"This brand is worn by top athletes all over the world-!"

"Then you wear it."

The hall went quiet, both of them staring the other down and neither willing to back away.

"I'm not sure what it's like for _your kind_, but in polite society when someone offers you a gift, you smile and thank them," Makoto said finally, eyes narrowed. Haru blinked.

"Sorry. Thanks for nothing," he bowed deeply. "I'll be leaving now. I'm late for work." Turning, he left Makoto wear he was and got lost for like five hours before finally making it home.

Makoto's teeth clenched, tears rolling down his cheeks as he sniffled. He groaned in frustration as he tried to wipe them away. Had he been wrong? He thought he'd been doing a nice thing, but Nanase had completely shunned his gift...

If that wasn't what he wanted, then what was?

Finally at home, Haru shrieked into his pillow. "Tachibaka, you IDIOT! Someone like you who thinks money is the only thing that matters is the absolute worst!"

From the window, he heard the familiar sound of a cello. "Stop yelling, Sousuke said as he peeked into the window. "You're keeping Rin awake. Don't you know he lives right next door to you?" He left.

Haru blinked at where he'd been in the window.

_That's strange_, he thought. _Why is it that everytime an alarm goes off in my heart, he suddenly appears...?_

_tbcccc?_


End file.
